REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Inflammaging: Triggers, Molecular Mechanisms, Immunological Consequences, Sex Differences, and Cutaneous Manifestations
Provisionally accepted
- College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, United States
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Inflammaging, defined as chronic, low-grade, systemic inflammation that increases with age in the absence of overt infection, is a phenomenon that was first described in 2000 as a member of a growing number of age-related processes that had pleiotropic effects on immune function and disease susceptibility. Although many pathological consequences have been attributed to inflammaging, it remains distinct from immunosenescence and not completely understood. A resurgence of interest in inflammaging has been spurred by recent work demonstrating roles for senescent cells in driving chronic inflammatory signaling and defining the cellular and molecular triggers that sustain cytokine production during aging. Alongside elevations in pro-inflammatory mediators (e.g., IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β), attention to anti-inflammatory mediators (e.g., IL-10, IL-1Ra) and composite ratios (e.g., IL-6:IL-10) can better index inflammatory balance in older adults. In this review, we summarize the characterization of inflammaging mechanisms, highlight roles for chronic inflammation that are clearly defined in immune system remodeling, and outline questions regarding inflammaging functions in sex differences, hormonal regulation, autoimmunity, and skin biology that still require further exploration.
Keywords: Inflammaging, immunosenescence, sex differences, estrogen, Skin Aging, Inflammation
Received: 12 Sep 2025; Accepted: 19 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Karpuzoglu, Gogal and Holladay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Robert M Gogal, rgogal@uga.edu
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